I made up this roast tonight and it was well received by the fam. Braising is my preferred cooking method for pork loin to combat the otherwise dryness of the meat. This particular recipe is very easy, requiring a minimal amount of active working time. Your Dutch oven will do most of the work.

Pictured above is the finished product – a wonderful beef pot roast with veggies and gravy served over mashed cauliflower. This is the first time I have made mashed cauliflower (recipe from Paleo Comfort Foods) and was the maiden voyage for my Le Creuset Doufeu! If you have never tried mashed cauliflower, I highly recommend you give it a try. It really is a wonderful substitute for mashed potatoes. I was expecting a wet, runny mess… yet, the finished product has the thickness and consistency of mashed potatoes in the pot. The fam was impressed!

This is the side dish we had with the pork and apples tonight. This huge skillet of squash was only 1/2 of the butternut squash that hubby brought home from the market. It was one HUGE squash.

I did some web searching for a recipe and found two similar recipes, this one over at Everyday Paleo and this one over at Paleo Intensified. Here is the final recipe I came up with following my research:

This morning’s breakfast included poached eggs. Pictured here are the eggs for hubby and I in the Le Creuset Egg Poacher. This is a new piece from the Le Creuset non-stick collection. The non-stick coating is not Teflon, it is the new European accepted non-stick that is supposed to provide non-stick properties without the health risks of Teflon. Continue reading →

Today is bone broth day. The Le Creuset Stock Pots are working hard on a pot of beef bone broth (larger pot) and chicken bone broth (smaller pot). The beef broth was started last night in the slow-cooker. Ten pounds of grass-fed beef marrow bones overwhelmed my slow-cooker, but about 8 pounds fit and simmered through the night. This morning I transferred everything to the larger stock pot and added the remaining bones. These will continue to cook for another 12 hours. The chicken stock is being made from wings and drums. I like the wings because of all of the cartilage — they make a very gelatinous stock.

My goal is to make stock about every 3-4 weeks and freeze it. I do freeze in large batches (haven’t tried the ice cube method) of about 8 cups per container. The stock will then be used to make various soups.

This morning we had a delicious frittata — 100% Paleo. Ingredients include pastured local farm eggs, bacon, organic fresh spinach, shopped sun dried tomatoes, onions and thyme. We paired the frittata with fresh fruit and pressed coffee. I am still working on learning how to cook in the Le Creuset, having replaced all of my teflon non-stick cookware. This frittata released nicely from the pan. It seems pre-heating the pan before putting anything in it is one of the secrets.